"Why?" Noan frowned and asked.

Yuna smiled. "Because if you kill him, the Fate Fragment will automatically regard you as its new master. It will give you everything it has, including the hatred of the souls Jankos has killed."

"To be precise, if you kill him, you will become him. If you do not kill him, then he will only grow stronger and stronger."

Noan felt a headache coming on and asked softly, "Then... is there really no way to destroy him?"

"Of course there is." Yuna said. "No need to kill him. You just need this..."

She suddenly grabbed Noan by the chin and kissed his lips. Their lips met gently, but at that moment, he felt a sudden heat on his forehead.

After they parted, Yuna smiled and pointed at his forehead.

Noan touched it. A crescent-moon mark was glowing with a faint golden light.

[Ding! You have temporarily received the Moonlight buff from Yuna: You can pierce through any existence with a rank lower than Yuna’s. Increases magic power by 100%, increases penetration by 100% (completely ignores defense).]

Seeing the buff he had just received, Noan glanced at Yuna, thinking to himself: ’Terrifying. Just a single beneficial effect is already this absurd. With her rank and my strength, no one should be able to stop me except SS-rank Lords.’

Yuna leaned forward slightly, her wide collar exposing full, taut breasts and a deep cleavage like an abyss.

"Please, Master." Yuna smiled. "Remember, do not kill him."

Noan nodded, took a few steps forward, and looked at the Black Smoke God towering over a thousand meters as he extended his hand.

Right at this moment...

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The space around him shook violently, as if being repeatedly compressed by an invisible hand, until a stream of space, compressed to the point of distortion, took the shape of a long spear about two meters in length, and then stopped.

Noan gripped the spear tightly. Around him, information panels appeared one after another.

[Activated the special effect of the King’s Medal (Rank SS): +500% strength.]

[Activated the special effect of the 300 Kills Medal (Level 1): Increases the total strength of the Lord by 50%.]

[Activated the special effect of the Pioneer’s Medal (Level 1): Increases the total strength of the Lord by 30%.]

Around Noan’s body, the special effects stacked, forming a dazzling radiance that turned him into a miniature sun.

In the distance, Jankos was crazily absorbing energy from the Jade Rabbit girls, thrilled to the extreme.

Suddenly, he sensed something and immediately looked toward Noan, his eyes filled with confusion. His instincts blared a warning, telling him to run away as fast as possible.

"What the hell is that? What’s he trying to do?" Jankos said disdainfully. "Just a piece of trash. Once I absorb all the strength of these stupid women, it’ll be your turn, Noan. Hahahaha..."

"I didn’t expect you to bring me such an unexpected gift. I wonder... just how ’delicious’ the woman standing next to you will be."

"Ah! I’m so excited. You’re making me way too excited! I can’t hold back anymore."

BAM!

At that moment, a thunderous explosion rang out. The ground beneath Noan could not withstand his power and detonated, cracks spreading outward like a massive spiderweb.

The spot where Noan stood shattered and caved in, forming a crater more than a meter deep and ten meters wide, as if a small meteor had just slammed into the area.

Around Noan, magical sigils and streams of holy light wrapped around him, turning him into an existence like a god.

"What the hell..." Jankos could no longer laugh, because the Fate Fragment on his chest was trembling violently.

He could even feel that it wanted to flee, but because it was connected to his body, it could not escape.

"No way!" Jankos shook his head, refusing to believe he was afraid of Noan. Afraid of the trash he once looked down on from above.

He did not want to... he did not want to be afraid.

Of course, Noan had no idea what Jankos was thinking, and he had no intention of finding out.

At this moment, the spatially-compressed spear hovered in front of him, spinning nonstop like a drill as a shrill howl of wind tore through the air.

Noan frowned, his gaze fixed on the Black Smoke God, no, more precisely, on its single eye. Inside that eye was Jankos.

Even though the distance was absurdly far, Noan’s eyesight surpassed an ordinary human’s by countless times. He could clearly see the pallid face and stark fear written all over Jankos.

"As long as you don’t die, that’s enough." Noan muttered, and then...

BAM!

The spear shot out. The recoil unleashed a violent gale behind it, blasting countless chunks of earth and packed snow off the ground.

WHOOSH!

A piercing shriek split the air as the spear became a streak of light that cleaved across the sky.

Wherever it passed, space itself was left with a torn gash, revealing chaotic turbulence within. Even the black fog in the surroundings dissipated completely.

Jankos saw that streak of light charging toward him, but only for the briefest instant. It was too fast, so fast that he could only stand there and watch, unable to react, and then,

WHOOSH!

The spear pierced straight through the Black Smoke God, flew off into the distance, and became a tiny dot against the heavens.

Jankos trembled. He lowered his head and saw that his left arm was gone. A massive scorched cavity had also been carved into the left side of his ribs, exposing the organs within.

"AGH!!!" Jankos screamed in agony. He thrashed, but as the Black Smoke God slowly dissolved, he fell toward the ground.

"No! I can’t die!" Jankos roared. Fresh blood poured from his mouth, nose, and wounds like a fountain.

But at that moment, the Fate Fragment burst with a strange black glow. A colossal skull-shaped black mist surged out, swallowed Jankos in one bite, then streaked away into the far distance.

The black mist vanished. The dome imprisoning the ten Jade Rabbit girls vanished as well, but they were already collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Noan asked anxiously, "Are they still okay?"

Yuna glanced at the ten Jade Rabbit girls and chuckled. "They’re fine. They’ve only been drained of energy. Their lives aren’t in danger."

Noan finally let out a relieved breath. Then he looked in the direction Jankos had escaped, frowning. "I didn’t expect him to still get away."

Yes, Noan had intended to cripple Jankos, then force him to sign a slave contract. Naturally, Jankos would be the slave, and Noan the master.

But Noan hadn’t expected that even in that situation, the Fate Fragment could still save Jankos and carry him away right in front of his eyes.

So this was the "luck halo" of a Fate Holder?

Completely illogical, so illogical that Noan felt even Newton would claw his way back to life just to curse that Fate Fragment into oblivion.

He shook his head and sighed, unable to understand why these "Fate Holders" even existed. Did they have some kind of mission? Or were they meant to protect world peace?

Noan didn’t know. He only knew one thing: right now, he felt extremely irritated.

These Fate Holders were like leeches, impossible to kill, unless you cornered them to the very end, like what he’d done to Zeka.

He shook his head, carried the unconscious Jade Rabbit girls away, and space fell silent once more.

...

Somewhere else.

Thud!

"Agh!"

Jankos slammed onto the snow, his face contorted with pain, eyes bloodshot as if they were about to spew fire.

Blood... blood was everywhere. On his body, on his face, on the snow. His lips had turned purple, and his body was shuddering violently.

Jankos felt a terrifying cold seep into him. His skin had already begun to frost over.

He clenched his teeth and muttered, "No! I can’t die here! I don’t want to die!"

"That bastard! I still haven’t killed him! I don’t want to die! I want to kill him, hack him into a hundred pieces, chew his bones, drink his blood!"

"You want to live, don’t you?"

At that moment, a voice, like countless people speaking at once, rang out, startling Jankos.

But he no longer had the strength to move. He could only lift his eyes weakly and saw a strange shadow leaning down to look at him.

"You want to live, don’t you?"

Jankos gritted his teeth. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t even have the strength to speak anymore. Still, the greed and madness on his face were unmistakable, he clearly still wanted to live.

"Hehehehe..." The shadow laughed, a laugh more evil and colder than the temperature itself. "Then... we can cooperate."

"Allow me to introduce myself... I am the Insect King."